Exploring the antecedents of industry globalization: a longitudinal investigation

PurposeThere is considerable variation in the extent of globalization across industries. The authors attempt to identify the structural conditions of the industry that lead to these variations.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of 33 manufacturing industries over the nine-year period from 2007 to 2016, the authors test for antecedents of industry globalization.FindingsThe authors find that industry globalization is positively affected by medium levels of barriers to entry, industry competition, industry assistance, low and mediums levels of capital intensity, industry concentration and industry regulation and negatively affected by low levels of technological change and industry assistance. In addition, the life cycle stage of the industry has an impact on the level of globalization with the growth stage having the highest level of globalization.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the major limitation of the paper is that the authors rely entirely on trade data to measure the level of industry globalization. The authors did not have a choice because foreign direct investment (FDI) data are available only at the country level. Second, given that globalization can occur at the country, industry and firm levels, the focus on industry-level structural characteristics alone may be seen as a limitation.Practical implicationsThe results of the study can provide guidance to practicing managers to apply industry analysis for predicting the potential for and direction of globalization of their industries. This will enable them to formulate appropriate strategies to cope with global competition.Social implicationsThe study has important public policy implications. National governments have many levers at their command that can be used to influence the structural characteristics of industries, such as industry regulation, industry assistance and industry concentration. They can selectively use these levers to either facilitate or impede globalization.Originality/valueMuch of the empirical focus of prior research on globalization has been on countries, rather than industries, as the unit of analysis. There is clearly variation in the extent of globalization across industries with some industries highly integrated while others remain primarily local or regional. Based on a novel approach to measure the extent of globalization at the industry level, the authors identify its antecedents. The value of the paper lies in the fact that the analysis of 33 manufacturing industries over a ten-year period shows that the structural characteristics of the industries drive their extent of globalization.